Nong Nooch elephants blast revelers during Songkran water play

Elephants at Nong Nooch Tropical Garden put a twist on Pattaya’s Songkran celebration, using their built-in water guns to hose down revelers.

Park Director Kampol Tansajja opened the April 12-18 “Songkran and Flower Festival,” which featured a parade of flowers and water sprinkling on Buddhist statues.

Twenty elephants participated in the Songkran parade with many spraying tourists with water.

Nong Nooch marketing chief Jaralit Sodornpermpoonlab said the park was aware the water coming out of the pachyderm’s noses may not be the cleanest. But, he said, the park gave full health checks to all the animals prior to the parade to be sure they were disease-free.

Nong Nooch elephants use their built-in water guns to hose down revelers.

This article was published in the Pattaya Mail newspaper on Friday April 18, 2014 (Vol. XXII No. 16).